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GOP Can Learn from Ron Paul
WSJ via realclearpolitics.com ^ | December 14, 2007 | Kimberley Strassel

Posted on 12/14/2007 10:58:50 PM PST by neverdem

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To: LowCountryJoe
Look, nation building is hard stuff

One reason why Bush and the GOP rightly opposed it 2000. Of course, Clinton was in office then. Everything changed after 9/11 an "R" was elected.

...it is the only thing one can do after defeating a despotic regime. One cannot abandoned a people after deposing their despot without fearing the former tyrant's underlings filling the power vacuum.

Why do we give a crap about a third-world sand trap, in the first place? And in any case, our presence actually tends to destabilize the region, rather than stabilize it.

....12 years of non-compliance of cease-fire agreements and the U.S. and U.N. looking like paper tigers in a post September 11th world....Saudi Arabia and occupied Kuwait asked us to help them for protection and liberation....

It was a complete waste of time for us to be messing around over there in the first place. Who cares about the U.N. looking like a paper tiger? Who cares about Saudi Arabia?

...they spout their anti-military crap and when they ask for intervention in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Ron Paul doesn't want the government to send foreign aid to Darfur or any other place.

The foreign policy of the current administration was...Wilsonian

Exactly. And Wilsonianism is crap. Treaty of Versailles? League of Nations? We shouldn't have been involved in WWI either, the stupidest war ever fought in the history of the planet.

It is too bad that actively promoting liberty where it is wanted around the globe is too kooky of an idea to seriously embrace

Trying to promote liberty by military force is pretty kooky, and not the responsibility of the U.S. federal government anyway.
81 posted on 12/15/2007 9:56:37 AM PST by marsh_of_mists
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To: driveserve
..all anyone has to do is visit any of the meetup forums or ronpaulforums to see what his supporters are like. I am finding most fall into a couple of categories, paranoid conspiracy types that believe the military-industrial complex runs everything and fakes wars, and college neo-anarchists who set aside their Che shirts for Paul shirts because it is in the ‘in’ thing. Good Conservatives who support Paul are few and far between. Some honestly agree with his isolationist/pre-Civil War values, others just buy into the crap that he is the pure Conservative.
82 posted on 12/15/2007 9:58:16 AM PST by mnehring (The US should not have a national immigration policy and "should welcome everyone..."- Ron Paul)
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To: mnehrling

You are so right. Just look at the pot-smoking anarchist college kid giving a speech supporting Ron Paul in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZTpYTQLz6c

A well-known leftist, socialist politician endorsing Ron Paul: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7r27Az_Mns&feature=user


83 posted on 12/15/2007 10:11:14 AM PST by marsh_of_mists
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To: april15Bendovr
Nice pics!

Here's my favorite Ron Paul ad, which is the one I made:

84 posted on 12/15/2007 10:11:21 AM PST by gbunch (Southern gun-totin' terrorist- and liberal-hatin' warm and fuzzy guy! GO FRED!)
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To: mnehrling

So I presume you are in the minority of supporters? Does that not bode well for his candidacy?


85 posted on 12/15/2007 10:13:03 AM PST by driveserve
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To: tacticalogic

Oh please, I suppose they’re just a bunch of angry albino wican midgets who dislike our policy regarding global warming. And al-Zarqawi and his followers were just in Iraq to sell flowers and pass out religious pamphlets. If not self proclaimed Al-Qaeda, certainly adherents to their murderous ideology, which makes them one in the same.


86 posted on 12/15/2007 10:25:51 AM PST by TexasMatty (No More aPAULogist, http://www.chrispeden.org/ !!!)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist; All
Last night on his PBS special, he said he doesn't welcome support from white supremacists. When a transcript appears, I'll post it.

No transcript yet, but the Flash video is available on the PBS site here. (I could do without the funeral march that comes with it, though. Subliminal advertising?)

87 posted on 12/15/2007 10:29:46 AM PST by logician2u
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Scratch that last parenthetical comment. It was from another window on my browser. My error.


88 posted on 12/15/2007 10:31:56 AM PST by logician2u
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To: marsh_of_mists
The thing about ellipses usage is that much can be missed when they are used.

One reason why Bush and the GOP rightly opposed it 2000. Of course, Clinton was in office then. Everything changed after 9/11 an "R" was elected.

And your view is that is should not have changed. We will differ on that, I guess.

Why do we give a crap about a third-world sand trap, in the first place?

Because, in my opinion, it would have been reckless not to. Should we have also allowed the Soviet Union to continue to expand without engaging in the Cold War and the real conflicts that took place to try and stop the SU encroachment?

And in any case, our presence actually tends to destabilize the region, rather than stabilize it.

Long-term, short-term, or both? Is Europe destabilized? Is Japan?

It was a complete waste of time for us to be messing around over there in the first place. Who cares about the U.N. looking like a paper tiger?

We (the U.S. of A) looked like a paper tiger, as well. recall that the second airliner to hit the WTC gunned the throttle before it slammed into one of its towers, it looked like a middle-finger to me! One that said, "whatcha gonna do!"

Ron Paul doesn't want the government to send foreign aid to Darfur or any other place.

I prefaced my comment that you responded to with the word "Leftists". You are not a Leftist, are you?

Exactly. And Wilsonianism is crap. Treaty of Versailles? League of Nations? We shouldn't have been involved in WWI either, the stupidest war ever fought in the history of the planet.

That is your opinion. I do not subscribe to it though. And just because you say these things does not make your position any more truthful to me. It does make you a rather principled isolationist, which, though I find unrealistic, is admirable.

Trying to promote liberty by military force is pretty kooky, and not the responsibility of the U.S. federal government anyway.

Maybe you should also read post#53 written by me.

89 posted on 12/15/2007 10:35:02 AM PST by LowCountryJoe (I'm a Paleo-liberal: I believe in freedom; am socially independent and a borderline fiscal anarchist)
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To: TexasMatty
So the Truthers and Lefties and other scum just love Freedom, thanks for clearing that up

Hey - what they do is their business. Paul's not courting them. He's the one that threw the message of liberty out there & people are coming towards it like sharks to chum.

90 posted on 12/15/2007 10:38:00 AM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: ansel12
That is a lot different than Paul attracting you, along with the people in the picture, and StormFront, and David Duke’s organization, and the truthers, and Hollywood leftists, the Paul phenomena is not the same and you cannot ignore the totality of the group movement that you have joined with.

You are sadly mistaken. Most of Paul's support comes from conservatives angry over the big spending, big government and prolonged war. You also have libertarians who have been ignored by the GOP, and the populist right concerned about illegal immigration & the NAU.

Paul may not win over registered Republicans in the primaries, but keep in mind that the GOP base as a whole has dwindled drastically. Fred, Mitt, Huckster, Rudy, McCain -- they're all chasing after that small pie of registered Republicans and then you have a guy like Paul who is bringing in newcomers, the libertarians, the independents, the cross-over Democrats, and the conservatives angry at Bush back into the GOP to vote for him.

If Dr. Paul wins the nomination, you can basically stick a fork into the Democratic Party.

91 posted on 12/15/2007 10:45:37 AM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: driveserve
Then be aware that Pablo appeals to large amount of “leftists, kooks, or truther nuts”

You can believe what you want, but Paul doesn't support their views, and if they're supporting him, then they're wasting their time.

92 posted on 12/15/2007 10:49:57 AM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

I give up,LOL! God bless you and Dr.Paul. Your still going to owe me a case of Leinie’s though. I perfer original Leinenkugels. Merry Christmas to you and yours and GO PACKERS!!!!


93 posted on 12/15/2007 11:01:42 AM PST by TexasMatty (No More aPAULogist, http://www.chrispeden.org/ !!!)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist
If Dr. Paul wins the nomination, you can basically stick a fork into the Democratic Party.

It will not happen. But, if it did, you're probably mistaken about what would happen to Democrats...there'd likely be a major realignment and many big-government Republicans would be woo'ed over by Democrats who would change some of their current platforms to attract these so-called conservative folks who like their government bigger and their liberty not so much.

94 posted on 12/15/2007 11:03:07 AM PST by LowCountryJoe (I'm a Paleo-liberal: I believe in freedom; am socially independent and a borderline fiscal anarchist)
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To: MadDoctorD; wardaddy; Joe Brower; Cannoneer No. 4; Criminal Number 18F; Dan from Michigan; Eaker; ..
The problem with Ron Paul is nothing more than his policies ring true of 1930s-style Republicanism.

While this in of itself isn’t a bad thing, and it most certainly goes to the roots of the Republican party, it is nothing less than the isolationism of Robert A Taft, who staunchly opposed anything to do with Europe prior and during WWII.

If this was not the case, he would have toppled any other Republican in this race. It has nothing to do with his economics or his social programs, the only thing that’s killing him is his foreign affairs ideas.

Bravo! MadDoctorD

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95 posted on 12/15/2007 11:13:42 AM PST by neverdem (Call talk radio. We need a Constitutional Amendment for Congressional term limits. Let's Roll!)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

“Most of Paul’s support comes from conservatives angry over the big spending, big government and prolonged war. You also have libertarians who have been ignored by the GOP, and the populist right concerned about illegal immigration & the NAU.”

“Paul may not win over registered Republicans in the primaries,”

“you have a guy like Paul who is bringing in newcomers, the libertarians, the independents, the cross-over Democrats, and the conservatives angry at Bush back into the GOP to vote for him.”

“If Dr. Paul wins the nomination, you can basically stick a fork into the Democratic Party.”


Well it sounds like a powerful new force has hit American politics and Dr. Paul is sweeping all that stands before him into his massive new movement. I guess we won’t recognize the terrain after the shakeup of 2008 takes place.


96 posted on 12/15/2007 11:15:34 AM PST by ansel12 (“Sanctuary Mansion? The savings help me to become leader of the anti-illegal worker war. Romney 08)
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To: neverdem
So the GOP should learn to cynically manipulate it’s supported emotions by screaming mindless tirades at everything and everyone promising a utopia the screamer knows he will NEVER be able to deliver?

The GOP should learn to be just like the Leftists and pander and demagogue to people’s emotions rather then appeal to their reason?

No thanks. We all ready have a party that relentlessly appeals to the emotional whimsy of ignorant people, they are called Democrats.

97 posted on 12/15/2007 11:22:34 AM PST by MNJohnnie (Hillary Clinton has never done one thing right. She thinks that qualifies her to be President?)
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To: mnehrling

“...it still would be legal for one man to own another and a man to be a commodity that can be bought and sold. No wonder Stormfront and David Duke like him.”

Didn’t you get the memo? Stormfront and David Duke only like Ron Paul because of his message of peace and freedom.


98 posted on 12/15/2007 11:31:41 AM PST by DugwayDuke (Ron Paul - building a bridge to the 19th century.)
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To: Publius

“What Dr. Paul is attempting is to bring back the America that existed before the Civil War — minus slavery, of course. There are many different flavors of federalism, and Dr. Paul’s flavor appears to be the same as Andrew Jackson’s.”

Like my tagline. I’ve been using for about a month now. Feel free to use it too.


99 posted on 12/15/2007 11:33:03 AM PST by DugwayDuke (Ron Paul - building a bridge to the 19th century.)
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To: canuck_conservative
It would be nice if the mindless Paulbots actually bothered to learn even the most basic facts about the US Constitution rather then scream their ignorant emotion based slogans about Iraq.

Would ALSO be nice if instead of screaming hate at everyone who questions their god, Der Paul if ONE time the Paul-bots tried actually making a rational argument for their candidate's view points

Contrary to the Paulbot dogma, there is utterly NO requirement in the US Constitution for a declaration of war to legitimize the use of US military force.

Amazing how the Paulbots, with their continual screaming about the US Constitution, demonstrate such total ignorance of what the Document actually says or how it actually works.

100 posted on 12/15/2007 11:33:52 AM PST by MNJohnnie (Hillary Clinton has never done one thing right. She thinks that qualifies her to be President?)
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